My Refrigerator Snores.

1. My refrigerator snores.

2. I put on sun-block if I’m going out.. even in the car… even for 5 minutes.(I have very soft hands for an old lady.)

3. I wash my hair every two days if I’m going out. Every 3 days if I’m not. (How dirty can it get?)

4. I take a shower every day. True! Gross, if you don’t.. For Gosh Sake’s TAKE A SHOWER!

5. I make my bed, hmm. Like never. Also true. Really.. Why?

6. I try to make dinner every night but sometimes we just eat frozen pizza.

7. I think I like hanging with my husband more than he likes hanging with me. 

8. Calling Angels on Broadway for the first time was a fucking trip.

9. My sisters, my brother and my dad call to check on me.

10. Some of my best friends email me just to check in. I love that!

11.I have some N95 masks. We bought them months ago to protect us from the California Fires. I gave one to my oncologist. She said, “This is the BEST GIFT EVER!”

12. I didn’t know how much I liked tequila.

13. I need to stay away from Amazon.com. We have Prime.. so ..free shipping.

14. I’ve just been ripped off by a China company for $30. The website for the purchase has disappeared. Alas.. Not buying from China anymore..  Wait…. Is that even possible??? 

15. One of my best friends made Phil and me masks! 2 each!! Really beautiful. Art.

16. My sister made us each a mask. She put Phil’s initials on his and it is black.. So fashionable. (He looks very hip!!)

17. Red lipstick and red shoes are the bomb. Try it. Everybody comments.

18. I tore a weirdly placed tendon in my left hip. No one can figure out how. Très painful. Seeing an Ortho Surgeon (by phone) on Thursday, because .. what else do I have to do?

19. I really need to stop watching so much news.

20. Netflix, CBS streaming, and Amazon Prime streaming are so cool. We will never get through all this programming. But it is nice to see my actor friends once in a while. Ha.

21. We’ve lost some good friends and colleagues in the last couple of weeks. One was especially close to us. We are grieving alone. 

22. Phil dusted behind the bookshelf. It was quite a project.

23. My blind 95 year old dad called me today to tell me his barber (88) came to my dad’s house and drove him to the barber shop and gave him a haircut and a shave. They are very good friends. I hope they are both free of the virus. Loony old men.

24. This virus is not going to “disappear.”

25. I am committed to doing whatever I am able to do to help. That is a bit limited.

26. At my chemo infusion today City of Hope finally required us to wear masks the entire time. All the infusion chairs were six feet apart. NO guests, even in the waiting room. My husband waited in the car.  =[

27. I am voting for Biden.

28. I spend time telling stories to myself with my tiny ting displays and with my stuffed animals. Makes me happy.

29. People are really stupid and I hate them. (Not You.)

30. Crescent Center Stage. Actors Fund..  Curtain Up Fund  DONATE!

31.  My refrigerator is snoring right now.

To Corwin

I had a dream last night that seemed fairly long and involved. I was stage managing Lady Day at The Emerson Bar and Grill. You came in to give me sound cues. For some reason I didn't have a prep week and was also laying out the floor. I was doing it from memory from the show with Karole Foreman. Charlayne was there. It was the first day of rehearsal! Daniel Sullivan was directing but he wouldn't be there for two weeks so Charlayne and I were starting without him. (This actually happened on another show. I didn't remember that in the dream.) Because I had an old floor plan the door to backstage was set at centerstage and looked like the front door of the club. Charlayne wanted the door to be really ornate. Wooden with curly cues. It suddenly occurred to me that the door needed to be a door to backstage. Oh yeah! We both remembered it was off-centered. To the SL. We talked about a door again and you said.. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm right here." Oh yeah! In my dream you were also the Set Designer. (Sorry Ed Haynes) You helped us fix the problem. See! Jobs where none seem to exist! (My mind.)

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Steak Stew.

Okay.. This is all about things in my fridge. I have a very complete stew recipe. This isn't it. 

Ingredients:

1. Steak you think is too cheap and too tough to eat as a piece of steak. Maybe 1.5 lbs?

2. A medium onion.

3. 4-5 cloves of garlic.

4. garlic powder.

5. 5 Bay leaves.

6. 1 Can (or more) of tomatoes. (NOT stewed, NOT flavored.)

7. 2-3 cups of water.

8. 1 cup of frozen farm style hash browns.

9. 2 large Russet potatoes.

10. About a pound of cut up carrots.

11. One bunch of celery.

12. Some pearl onions. (I had some in my freezer.)

13. Maybe some canned mushrooms you have in your pantry?

14. Two dashes of Allspice.

15. Paprika

16. Pepper

17. Sugar 1/2 tsp.

18. NOTE: you don't really need salt in this recipe. There is plenty in the canned mushrooms and the canned tomatoes.

19. About a tablespoon of lemon juice.

20. About 2 tablespoons of Lee and Perrins' Worchester sauce..More to taste.

DIRECTIONS: 

 1. Slightly freeze the steak. It makes it easier to cut.

2. Cut up the steak. Cut off as much fat as you can. I hate fat.

3. Spray cooking spray on the bottom of a Dutch Oven and add meat.

4. Cook until it just starts to turn brown. Add one sliced medium onion.

6. Once meat is browned add canned tomatoes. (I only had one can so I added 2 cans of water too.)

7. Simmer for 1/2 hour. Add about 12 ounces of cherry tomatoes. (Again.. what I had in the house.. Add whatever tomatoes you have! I cut them in half.

Some pics to help:

A. Cut the meat into smaller pieces and brown. Add at least 1/2 the onion.

 Meat with most of the onions browning.

Make sure you've cut off most of the fat:

 Ick.

When meat is mostly browned drain any excess fat and add a can of tomatoes.. and 1-2 cans of water.

Let it stew for about 1/2 an hour.

Add garlic, 3-4-5 bay leaves.. sugar, paprika, allspice, pepper, garlic powder, garlic, worschester sauce, lemon juice.. 

Add 1 potato peeled or .. as I did.. add a cup of shredded potatoes I had in my freezer. 

Stew on simmer for 1 hour.

Cut up 2 potatoes. (Again.. what I had in my house.)

Cut off any dark pieces! Cut into maybe 3-4 equal pieces per potato.

Add potatoes to stew.

Cook for another hour... on LOW simmer.

Cut up about a pound of carrots. (I had those baby carrots in the fridge. I cut them in half)

Cook another 45 min.

Add a bit more onion and fresh tomatoes...

I found some mushrooms in my pantry! Yay! Added them with the pearl onions.

 I threw in some celery leaves to add flavor.

Take this bread out of the freezer. (Of course you are just like me and have a ton of Arabic Bread in the freezer?!?)

 Here are the onions and mushrooms.

In the last 30 minutes add the cut up celery. 

The nice thing about stew is that you can clean up as you cook!

It is important to keep your stamina up!

 Some flowers and a bit of vodka. (I have to drink it in a plastic glass because I've broken at least 3 glasses in the last month! Yikes!)

Enjoy my dear friends~~~

Yay.. STEW.

(It was great.)

Burgers! A whole dinner!!
(meant to write this about a year ago.. but, well, you know!)

I've had some requests to talk about my hamburger recipe.
K. Here is one version. 

You will need:
1. One pound of meat.. I like Jennie-O Turkey 90/10
2. Mrs. Dash® Garlic Herb Seasoning Blend 2.5 oz. Shaker
3. 1/8 Green Bell Pepper, 1/8 Yellow or Orange or Red Bell Pepper
4. Red Onion
5. 2 Pieces of really good corn!
6. Crudités (Tomatoes, Carrots, Cucumber)
7. Packaged Pasta.
8. Frozen Peas.
9. Cheese. Sliced Swiss or Cheddar.


(Final Picture)

Mise en place:

NOTE: I like to use ground turkey. Jennie-O 90%/10%. You can use ground sirloin or other hamburger.. Be careful of the fat content. Try not to use less than 90 to 10 or you will have way too much grease.

Defrost your meat.

 

LOL

Form your burgers into patties. 

Push a depression into the meat:

Smooth it out. 

Get ready! Stuff the middle with onions and peppers.

 

Turn your burger into a patty covering the middle!

 

Place it into the pan. 

Season it well! I like to use Mrs. Dash. No salt! Yay!

Toss the extra peppers and onions into the pan. 

Cover and cook the meat! I like to cover and put it on low while I prepare the rest of the meal. Because there are vegetables inside the meat it will not dry out if you keep the temp VERY low! (Like on 2.)

  

For this particular meal I made some pasta and peas...

 directions on most boxes...

I also gently boiled some corn and cut up some crudités. You may add french fries or cole slaw or whatever... ha ha.

Before I serve the hamburgers I put a slice or two of cheese on top. Type of cheese? Your choice. We like Swiss, Cheddar, or Gruyere.

After the cheese, I add slices of either onion or peppers depending on the person eating!

Cover, turn off the burner and let the cheese melt.

Serve!! Yay!

Mary's Mushroom Fettuccine. (No More Politics Tonight!!)

(I just can't listen to the political news any more tonight.

I am cooking instead.)

Mary's Mushroom Fettucine.

Things you need: 

1 pound of  dried fettuccine or any pasta you prefer.

About 14 large white mushrooms.. sliced.

8 or so cherry tomatoes. I prefer heirloom cherry tomatoes. Sliced in half or thirds.

1 stick of butter. REAL butter, y'all!!

10 ounces of Parmesan cheese, grated.

1 bunch of parsley. (Not the Italian.. the regular!) Chopped.

2 1/2 cups of milk or half and half or cream or 2 percent milk.

1 tablespoon of flour.

1/2 tsp of white pepper. (Or more.. to taste.)

1 tablespoon (or more) of "Better Than Bullion" Chicken Stock.. You can also use Vegetable stock.    (found in the soup aisle.)

Smidgen of salt.

Mise En Place. (Learned that from the Food Network!) "French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or " everything in its place". It refers to the setup required before cooking."

This all goes fairly quickly...

1. Put a dutch oven 2/3 filled with water and a smidgen of salt on to boil.

2. Make a roux. 

   a) Put 1 tablespoon flour into to small pot. 

   b) Add 1/2 cup of milk or whatever

   c) Add 1/2 tsp of white pepper

   d) Add Better than Bullion.. maybe 2 tablespoons... not much more... It gets salty.

   e) MIX well as you heat it to a thick Roux. (Medium heat, y'all!)

3. Once roux is formed add 2 cups of milk or whatever. Heat to boiling. Keep an eye out.. It will over- flow.

4. Slice the mushrooms and the tomatoes.

5. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet or wok.

6. Add mushrooms and tomatoes. Cover and simmer until mushrooms look soft and brownish. (You can add more butter if you are having a hard time getting everything coated.)

7. Add roux and milk mixture to mushrooms and tomatoes. Simmer on LOW!!

8. Chop parsley. 

9. Cook pasta according to package directions.

10. Drain pasta.

11. Rinse pasta (yes.. I know.. You aren't supposed to rinse the pasta... do it anyway.)

12. Pour pasta back into large pot. Add 1/4 stick of butter. Stir until melted.

13. ADD Mushrooms and Tomato Mixture.

14. Stir.

15. Add Parmesan cheese. Stir.

16. Add parsley.. stir.

17. Pour into a beautiful large pasta bowl and serve with bread!!

TA DA!!

More and Later. My Career.

ART.
My lovely life. My choice. My calling from 4 years old to 65. A very full lifetime.
First was Mozart.. AH..Mozart.
Then was the baby Jesus.
Then was Christmas Music and holiday plays.
Then.. I felt Easter was ignored so I wrote a play in first grade to celebrate the eggs and the chickens and the bunnies.
We toured the school.
Then.. was some very difficult years in different schools.. trying to sing and belong to drama groups and then was a small college prep and DRAMA!
And MUSIC! And Singing and directing and acting and learning history and reading english and a great education.
Then ..
UCLA..
4 years plus one year of grad study for a CA teaching credential.
Bachelors and Credential.
Thanks UCLA.
Then.. High school teaching,
Then professional work.. then lighting then.. STAGE MANAGEMENT.
Self taught.
Then.. then.. the best friggin non union follow spot operator back when we used very dangerous carbon arc follow spots.

And.. lots more.
Later.

My Superman!

When I was a child I watched Superman with George Reeve and was in love! Superman forever! I read all the comics.. 

As I grew up, I watched Christopher Reeves as Superman..In love again. 

Then.. Dean Cain became Superman. Oh, my. Loved him! Got a picture signed by him.. 

Started to realize all my superman fantasies were of 35 year old men. I was 10.. I was 21 .. I was 40.. then.. 50. Elizabeth Taylor married 35-40 year old men no matter her age. I am not Elizabeth Taylor. That is actually a really good thing. 

I am in love with my husband.. after all this time, I know... He is my true superman and he is about to turn 67. I say to myself what a wonderful world and well done! 

I must be Lois Lane.